How America Can Help Baltic Independence

762 March 29,1990 HOW AMERICA CAN HELP BALTIC INDEPENDENCE The Baltic peoples’ struggle for independence is entering its decisive ~ phase. For now, the spotlight is on Lithuania, where Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1 show of force is an attempt to frighten into submission that country’s democratically elected government. In the wings, ready to move to stage cen- ter, are the independence movements of Estonia and Latvia. The crisis in Lithuania is forcing Washington to make some hard decisions about the Baltic states. For a half-century, of course, the United States has supported the restoration of their independence.This support was largely rhetorical and cost little; it had virtually no effect. Now, the U.S. can make good on its decades of promises and declarations.This the U.S. must do - in a firm and direct, but measured way. At this critical moment in the history of the Baltic republics, George Bush should extend official recognition to the new democratic government in Lithuania and tell Gorbachev that Moscow will pay a heavy price if it uses force against Lithuania and the other two Baltic states. Illegally Annexed. The case for America supporting Baltic independence is overwhelming: America never has accepted Moscow’s rule over the Baltic states. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were independent and sovereign states after their independence was recognized by the Soviet Union in 1920 and by the international community. But as the result of a secret treaty between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin in August 1939 -the infamous “Hitler-Stalin Pact” - the Baltic states were occupied and annexed by Moscow in 1940.This. annexation was not recognized by the U.S.,and the Hitler-Stalin Pact at last was declared illegal by the Soviet Parliament on December 28,1989. American policies to help the Baltic republics must not be an ad hoc response to the dramatic, exhilarating, and frightening events there. Instead, the policies must rest on a foundation of sound principles applying beyond Es- tonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to all the Soviet nationalities and their desires for independence and self-determination.These are: Principle #1: The U.S. supports Baltic independence. Principle #2: The U.S. very strongly favors the peaceful achievement of independence. Principle #3: The U.S. will impose an appropriate penalty on Moscow if it prevents, by intimidation or force, peaceful independence of the Baltic republics. Principle #4: The U.S. will understand sympathetically if the Baltic states must use force to counter Moscow’s intimidation and force, but the U.S.will not be able to provide help for such Baltic use of force other than American verbal expressions of solidarity and sympathy. Principle #5: The U.S.will reward Moscow appropriately for allowing the Baltic republics to become independent peacefully and similarly will reward Moscow for allowing other Soviet nationalities to achieve independence or self-determination peacefully. Principle #6: The U.S. seeks no unilateral gain in the matter of Baltic independence nor does it seek to exploit the matter to harm the Soviet Union. Translating these principles into policy, the Bush Administration should: + + Warn Moscow not to use force against the Baltic states, making clear that a crackdown will seriously impair U.S.-Soviet relations. Gorbachev hopes to revive the Soviet economy with help from _theWest. Moscow must realize that using force against the Baltics will torpedo such help. + + Grant official recognition to the new democratic Baltic governments once they establish their sovereignty and request U.S. recognition. The U.S. should appoint ambassadors to each republic and upgrade the existing Baltic diplomatic missions in the U.S.from legations to full-fledged embassies. + + Ask Congress to exchange parliamentary groups with each Baltic republic. These exchanges could be part of a series of linkages between Con- gress and the Baltics’ new parliaments, which would demonstrate American support for the new democracies, help end their psychological isolation from the West, and assist their reestablishment of effective legislative powers. Con- gress should also invite Lithuania’s President Vyautas Landsbergis to address a joint session. + Include these countries in U.S. foreign aid packages to Eastern Europe. The Baltic states are part of Eastern Europe, and the U.S. should treat them as such. Even small amounts of U.S. assistance would help them enormously. + + Make Soviet military occupation of the Baltic states a conventional arms control issue. The U.S. and its NATO allies must make clear to Mos- cow that an agreement on conventional force reductions will not confer any right on the Soviet Union to station its forces in the Baltic states and also 2 declare that any future negotiations will address the issue of the Soviet military occupation of these countries. + + Encourage international organizations; such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and such European organizations as the Council of Europe, to admit the Baltic states as full members. The Baltic states are recognized as sovereign countries by much of the international community and deserve to be members of the United Nations just as they were of the League of Nations.The IMF and its sister organization the World Bank provide credits to member governments. The GAlT is a broad-based grouping of countries dedicated to removing trade barriers. Membership in each will assist the Baltic states in quickly joining the international economy. + + Insist that this fall’s session of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) discuss Baltic independence; The forthcom- ing CSCE meeting is being held at Soviet request to review the broad range of political and security issues in Europe. It is the best forum at which to discuss the issue of Baltic independence as it will be attended by every European country except Albania, as well as the U.S. and Canada. The Baltic states should participate in this meeting on an equal basis with the other European states. + + Press America’s Western allies to take similar actions to support the Baltic states. The Baltic independence movements offer the U.S. the opportunity to assist the orderly dissolution of the Soviet colonial empire. With their emphasis on a peaceful and negotiated path to independence, the Baltic states offer Moscow a chance to address its imperial crisis before it explodes. Their suc- cess could be a model for resolving peacefully other phases of what could be the enormously dangerous problem of Soviet decolonization. U.S. support for this process would strengthen those Soviet leaders who understand that Moscow’s use of force to suppress the nationalist movements almost surely would lead to disaster and prolonged conflict. Conversely, U.S.and Western inaction regarding the Baltic republics’ strivings for independence would make it easier for those in the Kremlin who would use force to suppress all of the nationalities. THE ORIGINS OF INDEPENDENCE Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have long and illustrious histories. Although Lithuania was a major power in Eastern Europe in the 16th and 17th cen- turies, ruling over territories stretching from present-day Poland to Ukraine, each Baltic state has suffered repeated conquests. They became part of the ~ 1 Although common American usage places “the” before Ukraine, Ukrainians assert that this derives from Moscow‘s claim that Ukraine is a region of Russia, not a nation unto itself. 3 Russian Empire when Peter the Great took them from Sweden in the Great Northern War in 1718. They and the other peoples conquered by Moscow remained a part of that Empire until the disintegration of central authority in the Russian Revolutions of 1917. Independence Recognized. During the Russian Civil War, which broke out in early 1918, several of the subject peoples of the Empire -the Baltic states, Finland, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine, and other areas in Muslim Central Asia - seized their opportunity to escape and declared their independence from Russia. By 1921, however, Ukraine and Central Asia and most other states had been reconquered by the Red Army. Poland and the Baltic republics were not. Moscow eventually renounced all claims to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania and recognized their full independence in treaties signed on February 2, August 11, and July 12,1920, respectively. The U.S. recognized all three on July 28,1922. After independence, these countries managed an uneasy coexistence with their giant neighbor. On August 23,1939, however, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Hitler-Stalin Pact, which divided Eastern Europe between them. The Pact’s secret protocols allotted Estonia and Latvia to Mos- cow; Lithuania went to Germany.The Pact was modified in 1940 to give Lithuania to the Soviet Union in exchange for some of Moscow’s share of recently conquered Poland. The Soviet Union moved quickly to take control of the Baltic states.Treaties allowing Soviet forces to be stationed on their soil were forced on Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on September 28, October 5, and October 10,1939, respectively.These were soon followed by outright Soviet military occupation and an overthrow of the independent governments. Rigged elections were held producing communist-dominated parliaments, which on July 21,1940, voted to request annexation to the Soviet Union.The Stalinist terror then descended with full force in the summer of 1940, and tens of thousands of people were imprisoned, executed, or sent to the Gulag in Siberia. Washington responded by extending to the Baltic states its policy of refus- ing to recognize the forcible seizure of territory by the fascist powers.This was the origin of the “non-recognition policy” by-which the U.S. continues to treat the Baltic states as independent and does not officially recognize their incorporation into the Soviet Union.

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